Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Thursday, December 14, 2006

My To Do List is long. Lots of stuff to get done by Christmas. Many of those things are related to Kaitlyn's Installation as Honored Queen of Bethel 347 of the International Order of Job's Daughters. But there are other, usual things. Like Christmas shopping. But this installation and related activities is a big part of it. Example: We will be having approximately 10 teenage girls here for a movie tomorrow evening after taking them to a pizza parlor as part of the outgoing Honored Queen's term. As Senior Princess, Kaitlyn is in charge of it. Which means Kaitlyn's mom is in charge of it.

So each day must have things done.

Yesterday was mostly unproductive on my part. Normy and the girls did get the tree decorated and all the interior lights up. I will put my snowmen on the mantel sometime today. I will be baking the cookies I didn't bake yesterday after I'm done blogging.

Why was I a slug? I think I have a pretty good excuse. I put a bad guy in jail yesterday morning.

I was just running over to the scrapbook store behind the house to get some colored paper to run through the printer so I can print up the recipe cards for these cookies cause I'm baking them for a cookie exchange and the recipe is part of the exchange. It was to take me MAYBE 15 minutes.... even allowing for time to chat with my neighbor who works there. I left about 9:45. I got home at about 12:45. Considerably longer than I had planned. Add in the adreneline dump that I had and I was wiped out.

As I entered the traffic circle on my street, I noticed what appeared to some idjit driving with most of his body out of his car. As I thought it was entirely possible that Darwin would be in action and this idiot would fall out of his car, I looked to see if any more cars were entering the circle.

I saw what appeared to be a woman lying in the street. Cars were pulling over. I saw one man jump out of his truck and run towards her. I KNEW that idjit had something to do with it and I took off after him. At this point I could see he wasn't IN the car, but ON the car. Sitting, with legs outside, on the window 'sill' of the driver's side. They continued south for a bit and I grabbed my cell phone and called 911, pulled a receipt out of my console and the pen I keep there just in case. The car stopped and I stopped behind it. I left plenty of room to maneuver if I needed to. He walked around the back and stood there saying SOMETHING to me. I don't know what. Don't care either. At that point another car pulled up and the woman in the car said "Are you getting that plate?! Hey I know you!" and then she flipped a U-turn and took off. By this time the guy was in the car and they were driving away. I took off after them. I wanted to be able to give the 911 operator a location. After a few turns I lost them in the residential area of curvy streets.

When I got to EGPD (after first getting CHP) I gave the plate and I heard her say to someone in the room "NO. This one is a WITNESS." I was reporting a "possible hit and run... I don't know what happened exactly". Then I returned to the scene.

Those who had stopped had gotten her out of the street and she was on the grass on the side of the road. She wasn't moving when I first saw her, but as I got closer she started moving around. By the time I got to her she wanted to get up. She was frantic. She didn't know what had happened. She wanted to know where her daughter was. I was able to get her name and her daughter's name from her. She couldn't remember how old her daughter was. Two? Three? She couldn't remember for sure. She asked over and over and over again what had happened. I didn't know. I was starting to figure it out from what the others were saying. My neighbor around the corner was there and was the woman in the other car. We figured it out pretty quickly once we could think a second. She and I were the only ones that got a good look at that guy.

I tried to hold the young woman still. She told me her name was Carrie. I didn't know how badly she was hurt. She had some very bad 'road rash' on the side of her face and on her hands. I could tell she had a concussion from her inability to process and remember that she was hurt. I told her she had fallen down and just needed to be still and she would be just fine.

Paramedics arrived and apparently thought I knew what had happened. They asked me all the questions. I had precious few answers. But told them she couldn't remember the answers to her questions for more than about 15 seconds.

A EGPD officer arrived shortly thereafter and was shocked that there were so many witnesses. My neighbor and I told her we had the license plate of the car. She said "Yea, we know who he is." Oh. OK. Apparently it was helpful that I got that license plate reported quickly.

She called for more officers to interview the witnesses. I believe their were 7 of us. At least 7. That man in the truck I saw in the beginning. It ends up he's just 24 and was driving in the opposite direction. He saw Carrie and that guy in a heated argument and turned around to see if she needed help. Another woman was rolling down her window to ask the same question. Another woman saw him hit her. Another saw him get her in a headlock and they all saw him throw her into the street. Throw her hard enough to take the skin off the side of her face and the palms on her hands. In my non-medical opinion, she looked to have 2nd degree type burns. He threw her right in front of the young man's truck. He nearly hit her.

All who stopped had seen the assault. Most were on their way somewhere. My neighbor had a plane to catch. The young man was the only one, besides me, who really didn't have to be somewhere. He was on his way home from work. We were all interviewed. They finally got to me and took my receipt for new house keys (see the garage door posts... the girls needed keys since the garage door wouldn't open for them) with my license plate scribblings. It is now evidence.

The officer that interviewed me asked me to describe the man I saw. I gave my best guess on height based on his relationship to the car. His race was not clear. He struck me as not particularly Caucasian, but maybe Hispanic.... but really possibly more like some sort of combination. His hair wasn't LONG....but not short. Rather shaggy. He didn't have a beard or a goatee.... but he wasn't clean shaven either. He was wearing a sweatshirt... probably a hoodie. I think. Probably...yea. Brownish...gray. I think kind of a heathered brown. Couldn't tell ya about his pants. I wanted to say "jeans" but I have no clear recollection of his pants. Except that he was wearing pants as I was not under the impression he was pants-less.

The officer asked me if I could identify the man I saw.

Absolutely. He stood there for a extraordinarily long time under the circumstances. Someone obviously unclear on the concept of getting away unidentified.

My neighbor and I met two officers at a local coffee house so we could leave our personal vehicles there while the took us to where they were holding the suspect. A "show up" as it is called. In separate cars, sitting in the backseat (I was given the option of the front seat, but it would be harder for the suspect to see me if I was in the back), I was to see if I could identify him as "the guy".

As soon as he got out of the police car he was in, I knew it was him. He was wearing a black t-shirt and his hair was different. Buzzed. But it was him. The second I said "that's him", the officer I was with put the car in reverse and got me out of there.

When we got back to the coffee house, my neighbor and I made the same observation. "His hair was shaggier." We used the same word, even. Shaggy.

I fully expect to be called to testify if there is a trial. Which is fine. I have no problem with that.

I am very proud of my neighbors. The people who live and work and shop in this neighborhood. They stopped. They tried to help. At least two of them were willing to intervene on behalf of a young woman in trouble. I wish I had gotten the name of that young man. His parents should be proud.

8. The last time I laughed heartily and loudly: Today. Reading a thread on ScrapShare. It cracked me right up.... but it's location humor so I won't bother directing you to the thread cause you had to be there.

9. My favorite holiday ornament is: Hmmm... so many to choose from. Maybe my Santa head. It certainly has a special place in my heart.....

10. My house smells like: Right now, nothing. Soon: Del Taco.

11. The first thing on my to-do list tomorrow is: Go to gym. Take kids to school. Figure out what else on the list to tackle.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Is it ironic that my self imposed radio silence can be lifted on the 65th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor?

Everyone, employer related, now knows that Norm will be leaving his company shortly. They also know that he will be joining the company that out bid (or underbid, depending on how you look at that) his company for the job they have been doing for the past 4+ years.

The Big Boss will make these next 2 weeks as miserable as she possibly can, of this I am sure. So far, so good. She found out yesterday morning and as of this writing, he has not heard from her. But there is a big meeting on Monday......

My boss said "Maybe she's glad to see him go." Maybe. But I rather doubt it. Sure.... she's been wanting to fire him every 6 months or so. But he works cheap and does a good job and makes her look good. He's also a couple months short of 10 years and she's supposed to retain long term employees. Orders from higher up. On the downside, no company logo toaster oven for us. Gosh. Darn. You know....as a reward for reaching 10 years with the company....

I am of the opinion that when she starts snarking at him he needs to look her in the eye and simply say "Hey... it was an offer I couldn't refuse. They offered me more money and the client asked for me by name. More money AND appreciation. How could I possibly say no?" Since she had been exceedingly stingy with both. Example: (not that I'm bitter, cause that would make it worse.) Norm saved the client several million dollars. As an "atta boy" Big Boss gave him a $25 gift card to a restaurant that both requires more than $25 for a single meal AND is not located in our town. Millions of dollars saved and here... take a bit off your dinner bill.

Maybe he ought to include it in a "It was swell working for you Big Boss" card.

Ironically, the Home Office people have been effusive in their praise. He actually saved them about $20K the other day. They LOVE him. His supervisor is sad and disappointed that he is leaving.

So who is this new company? Norm will now be working for a start up company. It's small. Very. Very. Small. They go by the ever so clever name of Norm Daley, Inc. He will contract with them for his services. Another company will pay the Inc. We have drawn a picture so we can keep track of who is paying whom. But yes.... He is now self-employed. His contract is for one year. He may become a regular employee at the end of that year. He might not. A bridge to be crossed at that time.

It will be a new adventure.... We feel good about this. Eliminating the soul sucking boss is the best part of all.